Are you concerned that you may not have enough money to retire, maybe ever? Do you believe that there is not much that you can do about it? And are you therefore stuck? Well, get over it.
Here are some questions you should ask yourself. They can help reduce your frustration by lowering the gap between where you are and where you want to be:
Change your need for retirement income by changing what you do during retirement.
What is the right mix of play, being with and helping family, contributing to your community – whichever is really important for you? How much do you really need to consume? How much does having a meaningful life really cost?
Generate more earned income.
What is so special about retiring at a particular age? Is it because you are tired of working at your current job? So, why not do something you might enjoy more and get paid less? If you would like the new job more, why would you not want to work longer? If there are other things that you would rather do besides work, couldn’t you work part-time to generate some income and still have some time to pursue other interests and passions?
Generate more retirement income.
Are your investments in order? Do they work together properly? Do you have an investment and income plan that takes longer life expectancies, inflation, and the uncertainty of investment returns into account? Do you know how much income you can reasonably take from your investments so that you will have enough for your whole life, and do you know how to improve the results? Do you have any guarantees that your income will last as long as you do?
Change your focus.
Working for pay or not, can’t you obsess about something else? Shouldn’t you be focusing more on your diet and health to improve the quality of your life? How about the quality of your relationships and the sharpness of your mind – can’t you work on these instead? Shouldn't your goal be to have a more meaningful life, so why not work on that?
Some of these questions you can and should work through by yourself. If you are getting stuck on the questions, why not get some help from a partner, family, your network, or professionals?
